Abstract

I read with interest a recent article published in this journal regarding patient-centered interventions in care management and treatment adherence for people living with HIV (PLHIV). The esteemed authors estimated the cost-effectiveness of an enhanced patient-centered (EPC) intervention for improving viral suppression among PLHIV in western Kenya via a randomized pilot trial among 328 PLHIV in 2 rural clinics. The findings revealed that compared with standard HIV care, both the EPC intervention and provider-patient communication (PPC) training alone were more cost-effective at various willingness-to-pay thresholds. Providing PPC training alone was the dominant strategy (more effective and less costly) compared with the EPC intervention at $97.72 per HIV infection averted and $4.44 per disability-adjusted life year averted. Both interventions were cost savings when factoring in lifetime HIV treatment costs averted. Thus, they concluded that patient-centered care models may be highly cost-effective for improving treatment outcomes among PLHIV. The results of this study are very relevant and can be applied to the Philippine context because both settings are in the same category as developing countries. Both have experienced HIV surge cases over the years. Both have limited funding for HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. Thus, the results from this cost-effectiveness analysis can inform resource allocation decisions in the country.